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Harps across the North is a new 15 minute harp ensemble piece in three movements composed by Lauren Scott for mixed ability harp groups.
Poems by Emily Dickenson, Simon Armitage & Rupi Kaur provide the inspiration for the music and by fusing funky contemporary harp techniques with groove, the pieces are aimed at intermediate to advanced level players to learn to play in a workshop setting.
Each movement from Harps across the North; Hope is the Thing with Feathers, Freshwater Tears, the sun and her flowers, can also be performed as stand alone pieces by harp quartet.
The initial performances were set to be with three harp groups during 2020, with further performances later that year from harp groups in Wales and Australia. These original plans were scuppered by the Covid Pandemic, however concerts and workshops took place in 2020 with Harps of the North in Middlesborough, Dynamic Harps in Cardiff and online with Harps North West and the Clasarch Society South East branch.
The Sun and her Flowers has been recorded as a harp quartet (with harpists Eleanor Turner, Elizabeth Bass, Alexander Rider & Lauren Scott) for release on Lauren's next album due out 2024.
Lauren Scott gratefully acknowledges support from PRS Foundation Women Make Music for this project.
Poems by Emily Dickenson, Simon Armitage & Rupi Kaur provide the inspiration for the music and by fusing funky contemporary harp techniques with groove, the pieces are aimed at intermediate to advanced level players to learn to play in a workshop setting.
Each movement from Harps across the North; Hope is the Thing with Feathers, Freshwater Tears, the sun and her flowers, can also be performed as stand alone pieces by harp quartet.
The initial performances were set to be with three harp groups during 2020, with further performances later that year from harp groups in Wales and Australia. These original plans were scuppered by the Covid Pandemic, however concerts and workshops took place in 2020 with Harps of the North in Middlesborough, Dynamic Harps in Cardiff and online with Harps North West and the Clasarch Society South East branch.
The Sun and her Flowers has been recorded as a harp quartet (with harpists Eleanor Turner, Elizabeth Bass, Alexander Rider & Lauren Scott) for release on Lauren's next album due out 2024.
Lauren Scott gratefully acknowledges support from PRS Foundation Women Make Music for this project.
Hope is the Thing with Feathers
Inspired by the poem by Emily Dickenson, Hope is the Thing with Feathers is a Round in four parts and incorporates preparation with cardboard in the middle octave to create the effect of pitched drums. Inspired by the sense of 'ritual' and 'power' behind the New Zealand Haka, the Maori word for "hope" - tumanako - is broken up into separate syllables and woven into the Round so that the word in it's entirety is chanted three times throughout the piece.
Hope is the Thing with Feathers was written for the Old Malton Harp Group in North Yorkshire |
Freshwater Tears
Inspired by the Rain Stone poem by Simon Armitage,
Freshwater Tears is written in four parts and uses various extended techniques to create the effect of raindrops including xylophonics, percussive tapping on the harps and a special tremelo xylophonic glissando technique which Lauren has developed. This piece is inspired by the joy of rain which is so powerfully demonstrated in the poem by Simon Armitage. Freshwater Tears was written for Harps North West in Cumbria
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the sun and her flowers
Inspired by a poem by Rupi Kaur, the sun and her flowers is written in four parts and uses various preparations including paper woven between the strings to make the sound of a Kalimba, paperclips & coils placed on the base of strings to make the sound of buzzing bees, and clips placed on a bass note to sound like a joyous and raucous rattle in the final part of this piece. After a calm introduction of short cadenzas the sun wakes up and the sound of the kalimba creates a groove over which the flowers dance.
the sun and her flowers was written for Harps of the North directed by Anita Aslin |
Lauren has recently embarked on a creative compositional journey having only started writing music in 2018. Since then she has published two volumes of music for lever harp, her music has received praise from harpists and harp societies worldwide and her music is used as set pieces on Trinity and AMEB syllabuses. In January 2020 she was a recipient of a PRS Foundation Women Make Music award to compose new harp music. In March 2020 her debut solo CD, Beyond the Horizon which features eight of her compositions alongside works by Peter Maxwell Davies and John Cage was released on the Avie Records label to critical acclaim. Her music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Scala Radio, included on BBC Introducing & Apple Music playlists and in January 2021 she was a recipient of a 'Developing Your Creative Practice' award from Arts Council England. Lauren is currently composer-in-residence with Harps North West.